A healthy smoothie to keep your New Year’s resolution

Getting back into the swing of things in the Winter term can be hard after a relaxing holiday break, but it’s even harder if you’ve resolved to be healthy this year. Around New Year’s, after a holiday season of sugary desserts and multiple course meals, a common resolution students make is to get their health back on track. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. When school starts to get busy again, it’s easy to let those resolutions fall by the wayside. Breakfast can quickly transition from a healthy balanced meal, to a greasy breakfast sandwich from whatever café is closest to the first class of the morning. The key to keeping resolutions past the first week of school is making them sustainable. This green smoothie is simple, takes less than three minutes, and can be carried on the go. It’s not laden with insanely healthy ingredients like spirulina or kale, but it is straightforward and easy to keep making when things get hectic. Although a smoothie might seem meagre for breakfast, the peanut butter and chia seeds make this ‘green monster’ filling and will keep hunger at bay until lunchtime. With two servings of fruits and vegetables, this smoothie checks all of the health boxes, and will make keeping New Year’s resolutions a little bit easier.

Ingredients

1 cup of almond milk or other non-dairy milk

1 cup of spinach

1 large ripe frozen banana, chopped into chunks

1 tablespoon of almond butter or peanut butter

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

A pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions

Place all of the ingredients in a blender, with spinach on the bottom. Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.